Oh a-rikki tikki tikki!

Yes, the Aristocats has been stuck in my head for some odd reason the last couple weeks, especially "Everybody wants to be a cat." It's all good! Sister K. knows and loves all my favorite movies; on the off chance that either of us actually quotes a move, the other knows the quote and can finish it.

This past week was awesome! A little bit slow, but awesome. The adversary was fighting against us because he knows we're taking down his kingdom in the P-ville area!

First things first, Fearless Youth of Zion will be up and running as of this coming Sunday. We're putting together a training session for the youth who want to learn/practice sharing the gospel. We're going to study Preach My Gospel and practice teaching, like in the MTC. There are two sides of it, really, the training side and the fellow shipping side. We'll have the training meetings, but the youth will also plan and run good fellow shipping activities for their friends. It all comes down to this: We will all learn the true Gospel of Jesus or Christ sooner or later, whether it be in this life or in the spirit world. So we're all on that path. Some are further along than others. So every person has a "next step" that will bring them closer to accepting the gospel. Members tend to think that next step is reading the Book or Mormon or meeting with the missionaries. That fact is that most people aren't at that step for a long while. So what are some smaller steps? Going ice skating with a group of youth who just want to have some good, clean fun? A quick explanation/testimony of a gospel principle? A mormon.org card? Viewing your personal mormon.org profile? Knowing a Mormon, period, and having a good opinion of them? There are so many smaller steps! Well, the youth in our ward are super excited! Our long term goal is to prepare them to be member missionaries; in the process they will be preparing themselves for their full-time missions. The coolest thing is that we want this to be run by the youth. We don't want this to fizzle and die when we leave. This is going to be a P-ville ward legacy!

One of the many hilarious stories of the week. While we were tracting, a man opened up his front door in only his boxers. Thought one: "Why on earth would you open the door if you weren't wearing any clothes?" Thought two: "It's freezing outside -- are you crazy?" He told us he was sick, but he still talked to us on his doorstep in his boxers for 45 minutes.

Anyway, this guy was like, "I know all about your church already! I know all about John Smith." I thought, "Nope, that's Pocahontas." We had a really great discussion, though, and taught him the Restoration. We actually intrigued him on this one point. We were talking about the Priesthood and he asked very condescendingly, "Well tell me this, then -- where did Joseph Smith get his priesthood?" I said John the Baptist at the same time Sister K. said Peter, James and John. He was really taken aback, even unsettled. He said, "Like the Mount of Transfiguration?" It was awesome! That man is going to join the Church someday.

One of our investigators, A, is having a hard time with the thee-thou language of the Book of Mormon because he reads one of those modern versions of the Bible. Okay, my little soap box for just a minute. All these "Jesus is my Man" and "I can't wait to hang with Jesus" people can stop giving us that whole Book of Revelations crud! It's so obnoxious for people to tell me that the Book of Mormon can't be scripture because of what it says at the end of Revelations, but yet their modern (what I like to call "groovified") versions of the Bible have taken away and added to the Bible thousands of times. The end. Sorry, but I feel strongly about that!

One last super cool story. Around mid-November we got a referral from some members for a waitress they'd met while out for dinner. Turns out the waitress is a less-active member who wants to have her 9-year-old son baptized. We called and left a message. No response. Then we called her the day after Thanksgiving and she was hysterical. Her best friend had just died out of the blue -- no apparent cause. She still wouldn't allow us to come and see her, though. Months passed. A few days ago the phone rang and it was her! She came to church, met us, and met with the bishop. She told us, "I think I've actually seen you before." It turns out that, when the bishop took us to dinner that one night we didn't have an apartment yet, he took us to her restaurant and she noticed us. Crazy! I love seeing the Lord's hand!

If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops . . .

Hello everyone! Things are going well. Valentines' week was super successful -- we found three new investigators! Sister K. and I are working very hard. Our quest for obedience is bringing a lot of blessings. "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!" Missions were never meant to be easy -- that's why they're awesome.

R is at a bit of a standstill. She is frustrated that she hasn't received her answer about the Book of Mormon yet, so she has emotionally and mentally pushed away. Sister K. and I told her that if she wanted an answer, she was going to have to sacrifice. She hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon or coming to church, so she can't expect an answer. Missions are basically Parenting 101. You love these people so much and want to help them, but they refuse to accept your help or do the things that are required. You want to take their face in your hands and put your face really close to theirs, and explain how important and wonderful the gospel is! I can imagine that parenting is very similar. Love you Mom & Dad!

We spoke in sacrament yesterday, which was really cool. I like being oober prepared for sacrament talks -- well, not in the life of a missionary! We only had 10 minutes or so to prepare. I was super nervous but the Spirit helped me get through. I spoke about President Uchtdorf's talk "Forget Me Not" from the general RS meeting last conference. Every time he said "the gospel", I changed it to "missionary work." So it sounded like this:

"Sometimes in the routine of our lives, we unintentionally overlook a vital aspect of missionary work. In our diligent efforts to fulfill all the duties and obligations we take on as members of the Church, we sometimes see missionary work as a long list of tasks that we must add to our already impossibly long to-do list, as a block of time that we must somehow fit into our busy schedules. We focus on what missionary work is and how we might do it, but we sometimes forget why.

"My dear brothers and sisters, while understanding the "what" and "how" of missionary work is necessary, the eternal fire and majesty of missionary work springs from the "why." When we remember why we commit to making it a foundational part of our lives, missionary work ceases to become a burden and, instead, becomes a joy and a delight. It becomes precious and sweet."

"Let us not walk the path of discipleship with our eyes on the ground, thinking only of the tasks and obligations before us. Let us not walk unaware of the beauty of the glorious earthly and spiritual landscapes that surround us. My dear brothers and sisters, seek out the majesty, the beauty, and the exhilarating joy of the "why" of missionary work."

The Spirit was physically tangible -- it was so cool! One of the coolest experiences ever. I was exhausted afterward, but being a conduit for the Spirit was totally worth it. Later that day we had a missionary fireside where the youth asked questions to a panel; we were part of the panel. That was exciting! It was definitely a busy day!

Sister K. and I discover every day just how much we are the same person. Seriously, though -- it's crazy. Recently we found out (don't ask how) that we both loved Barney when we were young. Hence the subject line!

So Little To Do and So Much Time! Wait . . . Scratch That, Reverse it!

Hey everyone! The area is going great! Sister K. and I are really working on gaining the ward members' trust and getting them excited. Once they're excited, we are going to do all that we can to help them with their missionary work.

It's almost my four-month mark; I've been looking back on how much my testimony has grown and how much I've changed as a person. We always talk about how the Spirit changes our investigators, but I hadn't really thought about the Spirit changing me. He really does! When we allow the Spirit to guide us, we really begin to fulfill our potential. I know that you've been telling us this for ages, but I have really seen it in my missionary experience. There is always room for improvement, of course, but that's how it always will be. I really love being able to feel the Spirit all the time and praying all the time and learning all the time and teaching all the time!

R. fasted this week! She can't fast food because of her diabetes, but she fasted Facebook which was really tough on her. Sister K. and I fasted as well; all three of us fasted that her parents' hearts might be softened. She is doing well; she really is progressing in her testimony. We also found a new investigator through a member referral this weekend. Her name is M. and she is awesome. She told us about how she feels protected when she reads the Book of Mormon. She also told us that she believes that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She already has a testimony!

We tracted into a crazy, anti-Mormon Bible-basher lady who had hatred oozing out of everything she said. I felt so sorry for her. Why waste so much energy hating us when she could be doing something productive? Not necessarily joining our church, even -- there are so many other happy things she could be doing. We bore our testimony to her and left but, before we did, we asked for a referral. She wasn't too happy about that but it was one of our goals for the day! :)

Let's Tear it Up!

Hey everyone! This week has been crazy awesome! I have been half-transferred. They split the L/P area and I'm now only in P-ville. I have a new companion -- Sister K! Our theme is "Let's tear it up!" I actually met Sister K. in the MTC; she came out a transfer earlier than I did so we are both relatively new. We both still have what we like to call the "Green Rage!" We're still on FIRE! So basically, life is great.

Quick story. They doubled two elders into the new L-ville area, so we gave up our apartment. They decided the night before transfers (Tuesday night) that they were splitting the area, so they didn't have a new apartment for us yet. We stayed Thursday night in the mission home. Friday we had an apartment, and Saturday we were somewhat moved in (without a shower curtain . . . but who needs that? ;) We're going to buy one today. Needless to say, being homeless was an interesting experience on the mission! The apartment we're in now is so nice, though. The mission supplied us with some basic kitchen utensils and stuff like that. We have a whole room for our office -- I'm not used to that much space! It looks a lot bigger with no stuff in it, of course, but we're missionaries. We're not in the apartment that much anyway!

Everything was all over the place during the move and it took a little time to put the apartment in order. There's a closet outside our bathroom; I opened it up to look inside and said out loud to myself, "Shelves in the closet." Sister Kimball stuck her head out of the kitchen and said, "Happy thought indeed!" I hadn't realized I was quoting P&P -- we both laughed and had a good time quoting back and forth after that. Needless to say we were a little rusty, but that is a good sign. I love Sister K; we get along really well. She was in the BYU 243rd ward (Norma's) right before I moved into it, so we have a ton of mutual friends down there! It's hilarious.

We're super excited to get to work. We've already made a lot of progress with the members and part-member families in our ward and it hasn't even been that long. I do miss the members in L-ville terribly, though. It's a hard transition. I feel like half of my heart is gone (which sounds dramatic), but I had to leave the families that I'd grown to love behind -- especially people like the T's, who I really feel I was specifically in that area to meet. But that's what transfers are all about. I guess I'm lucky to have only lost half of my heart.